1. United States
2. Calif.
3. Letter

I’m writing because I am deeply worried about our public health system under the charge of Robert F. Kennedy Jr. The Times just reported that the United States has now recorded more cases of measles in 2026 than in any other year since the virus was declared eliminated in 2000. They call it “a grim sign that the country may be headed toward a new era in which the disease regularly sickens thousands every year.” But it’s not just the measles. Cyclospora has spread to 41 US states, part of the largest reported outbreak in US history. This after the CDC and USDA cut staff and eliminated parts of departments that track exactly this parasite. Cases of flesh-eating bacteria are skyrocketing, at least in part because of a systematic dismantling of the public health infrastructure built to track it. The New World Screwworm is spreading, too, again because funding for programs that tracked it was cut. And yet, we’re hearing that the administration isn’t done slashing the CDC and other agencies’ funding. According to MSN: “The CDC’s budget would be reduced by 53% if the administration’s proposed FY 2026 budget is adopted, according to a 2025 analysis by Trust for America’s Health, a nonprofit that tracks public health funding annually. The proposed budget would cut the CDC’s overall budget from $9.2 billion in FY 2024 to about $4.2 billion in FY 2026.” What are we doing? How many people have to die or be sickened before we restore public health funding? This can only end badly. Please restore all funding to the CDC, the USDA, the FDA, and any other agencies dealing with food or livestock safety. And RFK Jr. must be impeached! Make public health great again. Without it, all else fails. Thanks.